Surgical strip stitch



WW w. NIEBEL. ETAL SURGICAL STRIP STITCH Filed July 16, 196B BENJAMIN w.mesa men/mo w. STOVEP FORNEY o. INNER United States Patent Office3,487,836 Patented Jan. 6, 1979 U.S. Cl. 128-335 4 Claims ABSTRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A unitary inverted U-shaped member having flexibleadhesive strips attached on the extremities thereof and extendingoutwardly therefrom for attachment to the skin on either side of a woundbridged by the U-shaped member, with a skin engaging projectionextending inwardly from each side wall of the U-shaped member, andextending downwardly beneath the plane of the adhesive strips such thatthe skin engaging projections of opposite side walls terminate in spacedrelation with each other and have blunt nonpenetrating end portionsadapted to clamp the edges of a wound together in a peak therebetween sothat the flesh along the line of the wound is permanently held in aninverted position to promote healmg.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is acontinuation-in-part of our copending application Ser. No. 530,081,filed Feb. 25, 1966, for Strip-Stitch, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to surgicalstitch clamp devices to close and retain opposite edges of a wound inclosed position for healing. The primary object of the surgical stripstitch of the invention is to provide an immediate means of closure ofwounds resulting from accident even in cases where a surgeon is notimmediately available. The device may serve as a means of temporalstitching in severe wounds, until the services of a surgeon or physicianare available, and in less severe wounds, the strip stitch device willprovide adequate closure for lacerated or incised dermis without needfor any other stitching operation.

Thus, for wounds of minor magnitude the surgical strip stitch device canreplace the conventional thread with its painful insertion which manytimes necessitates anesthesia or local anesthetics. It also avoids theinsertion of a foreign body into the tissues which poses the threat ofadditional infection or stitch abscess.

Stitch clamps are known in the prior art but all such known devices,which provide adequate closure of the wound for healing, have sharpteeth or barbs thereon which penetrate into the flesh on opposite sidesof the wound to pull the edges of the wound together. However, thepenetration of the teeth in these devices into the flesh increase thepossibility of scarring, upon healing of the wound, because the teethare adding additional punctures in the flesh adjacent the lacerationthey are assisting to close. The insertion of these additional foreignbodies into the tissues also pose just as great a threat of infectionand abscess as is encountered when a needle is used for thread-typestitches and the like; so they do not overcome these problems.

The prior art devices also are designed to retain opposite edges of awound in an impinging relationship, whereas it is well known that if theflesh is peaked at the edges of the wound to provide an eversionthereof, the wound will heal more quickly and with less scarring. Themajority of the prior art devices do not position the edges of a woundin a peak or everted position, and those which do, either require twoseparate cumbersome clamps or sharp teeth for penetrating the fleshalong opposite edges of the wound. The unitary surgical strip stitch ofthe present invention provides a means for the noninfective and painlessclosure without producing any additional punctures in the skin, andeverts the edges of the wound, thus hastening healing of the wound andminimizing the resulting scar upon healing of the wound.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The fundamental strip stitch mechanism is twoadhesive strips joined together by a Ushaped bridge of ductile materialwhich, when its lateral ends are compressed so that the yield point ofthe bridge is exceeded, a permanent deformation will take place puttingboth adhesive strips in tension; thus assuring continued tight closureof the wound. The magnitude of this compression of the lateral ends ofsaid bridge will vary from zero to an extensive amount depending uponthe severity of the wound and resulting width of the closure. The bridgeincludes two or more angulated skin engaging members on each abutment orleg of the bridge. These skin engaging members have blunt terminalportions which contact the skin on either side of the wound withoutpenetration. This firm contact will allow the skin on either side of thewound to be everted and pinched or held firmly together between the skinengaging members when the two adhesive strips are in place. A subsequentcompression of the bridge, as mentioned above, to put a permanent set inthe U-shaped member, will increase the peaking and butting together ofthe distal and proximal sides of the wound.

In addition to the uses previously outlined herein, in post-operativewounds after conventional stitches have been removed, the strip stitchmay be employed by patients themselves, for a period of a few weeks, tolessen scarring or in the case of keloid formers to lessen unsightlyScarring.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of thesurgical strip stitch of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof and particularly showing the skinengaging projections having relatively wide blunt terminal surfaces; and

FIG. 3, is a side elevational view of the strip stitch showing thepermanent deformation thereof in dotted lines and showing the manner inwhich the edges of a wound are held in exerted position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more particularly tothe drawings, a metallic U-shaped bridge 2, formed from a piece ofunitary strip material, has a pair of leg members 4 and 5 extendingdownwardly from a center deformable arch section. The terminal portions7 and 8 of leg members 4 and 5, respectively, are disposed atsubstantially right angles to the respective leg members and extendoutwardly from the U-shaped member. Thin strips of flexible material 1and 3, with adhesive backing-on the lower surface thereof, each has aterminal end securely joined to the terminal portions 7 and 8,respectively of the leg members.

As shown more particularly in FIGS. 1 and 2, at least a single skinengaging projection 6 is struck out of each of the leg members 4 and 5and bent inwardly obtuse angles to the leg members, such that the skinengaging projections of opposite leg members extend inwardly toward eachother, as shown in FIG. 3, and downwardly beneath the plane of theterminal portions 7 and 8 of the leg members and the adhesive strips 1and 3. The skin engaging projections 6 are connected to the U-shapedmember substantially at the junctions of the leg members and therespective outwardly extending terminal portions. Since the skinengaging projections 6 are struck from the walls of the leg members 4and they are the same thickness throughout as the leg members. The endportions 9 of the skin engaging projections 6 are relatively blunt, asshown in the drawings, since the projections are substantially square inshape and may be somewhat tapered. With this configuration, the endportions provide relatively wide terminal surfaces for engaging theskin.

When the surgical strip stitch is applied to the wound, one of the thinadhesive strips is placed on one side of the wound and pressed firmly inplace. The device is then pulled laterally toward the wounds so that theadhesive strip that is adhered to the skin draws additional skin towardthe wound to peak the skin adjacent opposite edges of the wound upwardlybetween the terminating end portions of the spaced skin engagingprojections 6. These projections pressing with their blunt end portionsdownwardly into the skin increase the peaking of the skin and retain theskin pinched between the projections in peaked relation. In thisposition the edges of the wound are in a side-by-side everted positionbeneath the window 10 in the center arch section of the U-shaped memberwhich permits constant visibility of the closure and also permits freecirculation of air above the wound to facilitate rapid healing. Thesecond adhesive strip is then adhered to the skin on the opposite sideof the wound after the skin on that side of the wound is pushed towardthe wound and up between the projections 6. The adhesive strips 1 and 3are thus in tension.

Subsequently, the leg members 4 and'S of the U-shaped members aresqueezed together by pliers or the like, as indicated in dotted lines inFIG. 3, so that the yield point of the arch section is exceeded to put apermanent set in the U-shaped member, thus drawing the blunt endportions 9 of the skin engaging projections closer together to morepositively pinch and clamp together the distal and proximal sides of thewound and retain the edges of the wound in the everted position. Therelatively wide terminal surfaces 9 of the projections remain innonpenetrating pinching abutment with the skin surface and the adhesivestrips which are retained in a state of tension cooperate with theprojections to maintain the flesh firmly and securely in a peakedhealing position between the blunt projections to minimize scarring.

We claim:

1. A strip stitch device for use in clamping the edges of a woundtogether so as to form an eversion of the flesh in the line of thewound, comprising in combination: an inverted unitary U-shaped memberhaving a center arch section with depending leg members extendingdownwardly from the center arch section, said leg members havingsubstantially flat inner and outer wall surfaces, said leg membershaving terminal portions disposed at substantially right angles theretoand extending outwardly therefrom, first and second flexible adhesivestrip members attached to said respective terminal portions andextending outwardly therefrom, at least a single skin engagingprojection on the inner wall surface of each leg member, the said skinengaging projections of opposite leg members extending inwardly anddownwardly toward each other beneath the plane of the terminal portionsof said leg members and having relatively blunt end portions terminatingin spaced relation and adapted to pinch and peak the flesh adjacentopposite edges of the wound.

2. A strip stitch device as set forth in claim 1 in which saidrelatively blunt end portions on said skin engaging projections compriserelatively wide terminal surfaces.

3. A strip stitch device as set forth in claim 1 in which said at leasta single skin engaging projection of each leg member is struck inwardlyfrom and is integral with the respective leg member and is connected tothe leg member substantially at the junction of the leg member and therespective outwardly extending terminal portion.

4. A strip stitch device as set forth in claim 3 in which said at leasta single skinengaging projection of each leg member extends at an obtuseangle to said respective leg member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 765,793 7/1904 Ruckel 128-3352,371,978 3/1945 Perham 128-335 2,472,009 5/1949 Gardner 1283373,068,870 12/1962 Levin 128-337 FOREIGN PATENTS 419,096 12/1910 France.

358,383 10/1931 Great Britain.

DALTON L. TRULUCK, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 128-337, 346

